The skills system is a tool for further character customization and for expressing one's strengths and weaknesses. On the chart for stat comparisons, one's capability in combat with their skills functions in a similar manner. When two equivalent skills clash, each difference in rank is treated as one more notch up the chart. (As an example, Two Novice swordsmen are Equivalent while an Acolyte swordsman has Advantage over a Novice swordsman, a Trained swordsman has Superiority over a Novice Swordsman, and an Adept swordsman has Dominance over a Novice swordsman). This sort of comparison is used for clashes of skill/power, attacks and ripostes, etc.

Some skills do not compare against a skill for purposes of modifying the 'advantage', but instead have either direct effects either on stats, or (as detailed in the following paragraph) be purely intended as an influence on techniques.

It's not uncommon for techniques to have variable effects based on skills, starting weaker at lower skill ranks, and becoming stronger at higher ranks. In these cases the 'baseline' value will be intermediate or advanced, depending on the technique in question, while being inferior at lower ranks and superior at higher ranks.

Below are the skill ranks and costs themselves. Note that these are the TOTAL cost of a rank. If ranking up from one rank to another, pay the difference between them.

Skill Ranks:

None: You have never done this before and it is akin to picking a sword up for the first time and trying to fight with it. – 0 GP

Novice: You’re on the way to learning how to actually hold your own with this skill or ability. – 50 GP

Acolyte: Demonstrates that you have the fundamentals down. In areas your character is less skilled in, don’t expect to go above this. – 100 GP

Adept: You want to climb higher, to become more. But you’re only on the road, not at the destination. – 200 GP

Trained: This is the level even most specialists don’t go beyond. Not even so much because they don’t want to, but because they just can’t. – 400 GP

Master: You have blazed a trail so very few have ever seen. You know all that is known about this field. – 800 GP

Grandmaster: You have become a pioneer in the field. While a master of swordsmanship may know all that is known about the art of the sword, a grandmaster is the one who will discover things yet unknown. It requires two of your Mastery slots. – 1,200 GP

Enlightened: Represents a level of specialization only achieved by transcendental beings. Having this rank in a skill means you have learned to defy what is conventionally possible and through using the powers granted by your state of being you have taken your performance in a single area far beyond anything the lesser beings are capable of. Requires three Mastery slots. – 2,000 GP